Any chance we'd ever see an OGRE Macroture now?

[OGREDaddy]

We've been teased with Macrotures for a long, long time and nothing. Now that we live in an age of digital models and 3D printing, and since we have the physical models of most of, if not all the vehicles in the game, could we ever get a KS to purchase a 1/72 or 1/48 Mark III or Mark V OGRE? This would be more of a model than a game piece but I'd love to have a 2 foot long OGRE model for my desk at work. Yeah, it would be expensive but I'm sure that there are others out there like me who would be willing to pay for a limited edition run of this model. I'm used to paying several hundred dollars for some of my kits (Randy Cooper Tantive IV ...) so I wouldn't be going into this thinking that something of that scale and size would be comparable in price to something you buy off the shelf like a Monogram tank model.

Just wondering.

The miniatures are very nice, how much harder would it be to size up the digital model and make a limited run of true collector OGRE models like this one?

Giant OGRE

[Ashley]

On a scale of 0 to 10, my hunch the chance of seeing a "commercial" macroture is less than one. Happy to be proved wrong, but realistically I can see several problems.

1. Larger models for games like FFGs SW X-wing are supported by a large fan base of both the game and the franchise: Ogre may have the former, but arguably doesn't have the latter.

2. SJG is a game company that specializes in paper products; Yes, they do the miniature line for Ogre, but they're not a company driven by the sales of miniatures, otherwise the Ogre line would never have gone out of print in the first place.

3. Finally, rules: the rules as they stand are great for maps, okay'ish for tabletop miniature games if the players don't mind the abstraction between the ground scale and the figure scale. However, bigger models would IMNSHO break the game rules. YMMV; feel free to argue the pros and cons.

[jfleisher]

At this point, macrotures would be more of a display item, a collectible. It would be very expensive to collect a macrotures Ogre army, and you would need a football field to play on.

I have the previously released PE GEV macroture, and I love it. I would love one of every vehicle and Ogre, but I have to be realistic.

[TexPoec]

The game is probably as accessible as possible given the company's bandwidth. They have been good about crowdsourcing demand for new products and they rightly seem to focus on items that keep diehards engaged and that are a low enough bar to at least keep the base from shrinking.

[OGREDaddy]

The item I'm requesting for consideration is just a big model for display ... it's not a game piece or intended to go with any rules set. At 1/72 or 1/48 scale, rules would require basically an unrealistically large area to play on. The macroture OGRE is just a collectible to build up, paint, weather, etc. and put on display. It's something to make eyeballs pop when others see it on your desk at work or shelf at home.

Given that we have the sprues of the Mk III and Mk V, taken from digital models already made, it shouldn't be too hard to ramp those models up to a much larger scale. The question is ... what is the breakpoint for the cost to produce, profit desired per item by SJG, and final adjusted price offered to the public for retail sale? If the OGRE designer set got as much money as it did in KS, I think something like this would have a chance to live, especially since it would be a (very) limited run and wouldn't be something that would sit on the shelves at SJG gathering dust until they had to deep discount the leftovers to get rid of them.

One run and done. In an age of 3D printing, products on demand, and Kickstarter, it might be the time that something like this could be offered. And I'm only interested in a Mk III or Mk V OGRE macroture, not a model of every single vehicle in the catalog. If it came down to a choice between the Mk III or Mk V, it would be the Mk V macroture hands down since that is the "face" of OGRE and has been forever.

[Mack_JB]

Originally Posted by OGREDaddy

Given that we have the sprues of the Mk III and Mk V, taken from digital models already made, it shouldn't be too hard to ramp those models up to a much larger scale.

While the 3D CAD files are done for the models in 1:300, taking that digital file and re-designing it to make a multi-piece model in a much larger scale would likely be a huge task. The artist would need to re-make every single piece in order to define parting lines, part thickness, and how they all fit together properly to make the model work. Then some poor fellow would have to make an instruction sheet to tell folks how to build the kit.

Seeing as an Ogre Mk. V is around 25.5 meters long, at 1:48 scale you're talking a model that would be 21" long -- larger than Tamiya's old 1:25 scale Tiger I -- which now retails for roughly $300. Expect your niche market Ogre kit to retail at around $1000 in 1:48.

Even at 1:72 (25mm scale minis), it's a large model, about 14" long.

[Buzzardo]

Originally Posted by Mack_JB

Seeing as an Ogre Mk. V is around 25.5 meters long, at 1:48 scale you're talking a model that would be 21" long -- larger than Tamiya's old 1:25 scale Tiger I -- which now retails for roughly $300. Expect your niche market Ogre kit to retail at around $1000 in 1:48.

Even at 1:72 (25mm scale minis), it's a large model, about 14" long.

Eyup. The only reason I can think of to buy one is as a sculpture to put in my office. At 1:72 scale and $300, I'd actually think about it. At 1:48, it's too big and too expensive (assuming your $1,000 estimate is close - I know you know a ton about modeling, so close enough for me at present.).

[Mack_JB]

This thread is bad, because it has me thinking "just how hard would it be to scratchbuild an Ogre in 1:72". Access to a laser cutter is handy ... so the treads and drive units would be easier ... and that whole body is mainly just a series of flat planes intersecting (styrene sheet cut-to-fit). Barrels turned on a lathe ... hmmm......

[Senturian]

"just how hard would it be to scratchbuild an Ogre ?
Only a matter of time before you give in.

and we'll want Photos and measurements..

[dwalend]

Originally Posted by Senturian

"just how hard would it be to scratchbuild an Ogre ?
Only a matter of time before you give in.

and we'll want Photos and measurements..

14" to 21" ? Lego?